A-Rod Joins 600 Club

At long last, Alex Rodriguez joined the once prestigious 600 Home Run Club.

A-Rod's blast to center field was the most over-anticipated, over-hyped and over-blown sports moment since "The Decision."

The two-run homer did help the Yanks to a 5-1 triumph over the Blue Jays that, along with a Rays defeat at the hands of the Twins, pushed the Yanks back into a push for first place in the American League East.

It's not the first time a Yankee clubbed a two-run jack in the opening frame since the calender flipped to August, in fact it wasn't the second time either. For the third game in-a-row, a different Yankee, batting in a different spot in the order, smacked a two-run dinger in the first inning.

Nick Swisher, batting in the two-hole, and Mark Teixeira, the three-hitter, were the ones who performed the deed in the previous games.

The pair of runs was all Phil Hughes, Boone Logan, Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera would need holding the Jays to a single tally.

With A-Rod's milestone behind them, the Yanks must prepare for a four-game battle with the Red Sox -- no word if impatient Joe West will be arbiter in the series.

With New York and Tampa Bay 6.5 lengths ahead of the Rose Hose, Boston needs this weekend to turn the division into a three pony meet. The Yanks and Rays like it just fine with two competitors, insuring both a playoff spot.

***********************************************************

The Mets and their fickle fans are hoping last night's disastrous 8-3 abomination to the Braves was rock bottom. Really, it can't get much worst than that.

When a team accumulates more errors, 4, than runs, 3, things aren't going quite right.

But the miscues were just one of many issues for Jerry Manuel's club, which appeared to have spent all night celebrating Jeff Francoeur's dramatic homer the previous night.

Supposed number two starter, Mike Pelfrey was awful -- again. Since his last W on June 25, Pelf's ERA is a swollen 9.00. In those seven starts, the big righty has not once completed six innings and only twice made to the end of the fifth.

The sad state of the lineup can be summed up as such: Luis Castillo was the Mets best offensive player last night with two hits, a walk and a run batted in.

Any hopes that the Mets would use Frenchy's blast as a building block were dashed when Chipper Jones and Brian McCann went yard back-to-back in the third, flipping a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 deficit the Mets would not recover from.

***********************************************************

Mets fans should feel bad for Oliver Perez, not because he's just not that good a pitcher -- many people aren't, but because he simply doesn't get it.

"I'm trying to get better," Ollie told the New York Post, "but it's hard when you don't have the velocity you used to have. I'm trying to become a pitcher instead of just using my power. That's difficult to do." It's even more challenging to accomplish while wasting away in the bullpen.

It doesn't exactly take a rocking Leo Mazzone to realize that the best place to build velocity and work on changing yourself as pitcher is not sitting on ones behind, it's on the mound. The only hill Ollie should get near these days is one down on the farm.

Ollie should be the 26th man on the Mets 25-man roster. But he doesn't get it, that's what makes his situation so irritating.